A Touch of Notoriety - By Carole Mortimer Page 0,52

eyed her impatiently. ‘As it happens, I did not need to do so.’

‘Oh?’

Raphael grimaced. ‘My father was less inclined to believe Margarita when, several years later, she tried to use the same excuse after he found her naked, in their marriage bed, in the arms of one of his gauchos.’

‘So you and your father are reconciled?’

A nerve pulsed in the tightness of his jaw. ‘No.’

A frown appeared between her eyes. ‘Why not?’

‘Because we are Cordobas,’ Raphael snapped.

Her expression grew rueful. ‘Meaning that your father is just as arrogant and proud as you are?’

‘We are Cordobas,’ he repeated, his eyes having turned an icy blue.

‘I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life before!’ Beth eyed him impatiently.

‘That is because everything is so very black-and-white to you,’ Raphael drawled derisively.

Beth felt slightly stung by his ‘black-and-white’ comment coming so soon after his accusation of her naiveté. And maybe she was both of those things, but it still hurt to have Raphael say it so cuttingly. ‘This situation is black-and-white,’ she insisted. ‘Your father made a mistake fourteen years ago, a mistake you’re both too proud to admit, and reconcile your differences. How old is your father, Raphael?’ He frowned.

‘What does that have to do with anything?’

‘A lot, if you ever intend to heal the rift between the two of you.’ Beth grimaced.

‘And why would I wish to do that?’

‘Because he’s your father. Because he made a mistake, a mistake he’s paid for dearly, first by losing his only son, and then the woman who had betrayed him. Because,’ she continued firmly as Raphael would have spoken, ‘in spite of everything, you love him...’

He drew himself up stiffly. ‘This is none of your concern—’

‘Of course it isn’t,’ Beth accepted impatiently. ‘Except—’

‘Can you be ready to leave in one hour’s time?’ Raphael rasped harshly.

‘End of conversation?’ she guessed ruefully.

Raphael nodded abruptly. ‘End of conversation.’

Beth studied him closely for several seconds, knowing by his closed expression that he had no intention of discussing this subject any more with her today. If ever.

She nodded wearily. ‘My bags are already packed and waiting upstairs.’ She had been up before dawn—after sleeping fitfully for only a couple of hours—to pack her things in readiness for what she knew was their imminent departure to Argentina.

‘We leave in one hour,’ Raphael repeated harshly before striding forcefully out of the kitchen.

Beth’s shoulders slumped the moment she was alone, tears scalding the backs of her eyes, and she reached out to grasp the edge of the kitchen table as her knees threatened to buckle beneath her, her conversation with Raphael, and the strain that existed between them now, having taken an emotional toll on her she was simply too tired to cope with.

Despite those shocking revelations in their conversation just now, Raphael had, to all intents and purposes, become a stranger to her these past twelve hours. He was no longer that mocking man she had known in Argentina, or the diligent bodyguard whose presence had annoyed and yet comforted her, both in Argentina and since they’d come to England. And he certainly wasn’t the sensual lover of the night before, the man who had driven her insane with pleasure. Instead he was a man who now made it clear, with every word he spoke, that he wanted nothing more to do with her on a personal level.

And the pain of that realisation was worse than the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach—

‘Sorry, Miss Navarro, I thought Raphael was in here?’

Beth turned slowly to find that Rodney had let himself into the house by the kitchen door without her even being aware of it. Because she was so lost in her own misery. The misery of being in love with a man who made it more than clear that he didn’t want to be with her.

She straightened determinedly as she gave the security guard a forced smile. ‘I think he went to Cesar’s study.’

‘That’s fine.’ The burly man nodded. ‘Perhaps you can tell me what time we’re leaving for the airport.’

Beth stilled. ‘What time we’re leaving for the airport?’

Rodney gave her a reassuring smile. ‘I’m taking over as head of your security detail as from today.’

Beth felt all the colour drain from her cheeks. ‘You are?’ She knew she sounded like a parrot, and a slightly ridiculous one at that, but she was too stunned by what Rodney had just said to be able to pretend otherwise.

Rodney nodded happily, obviously completely unaware of Beth’s distress at his disclosure. ‘Raphael